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Luke 6:29, “And unto him that smiteth thee on the [one] cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not [to take thy] coat also.”

I was thinking about the difference between a user and a taker.

I think of a user as a person who intentionally sets me up to be treated like an object in his life.

I think of a taker as more casual and less intentional than that. Takers may do the same things as users, but they do them because they have never learned give-and-take in relationships. They do not consciously plot to treat others as objects–they just do it.

I am not sure that we can tell the difference from outside of another person–I think only God can tell which one he is. So probably we have to rely on the above verse in either case, since it is not up to us to establish motive, nor to decide when it is good to give something to someone and when it is good to withhold it. God can take care of the results if we follow Him and His Word.

I think when we are tempted to despair of the number of people who are either users or takers nowadays, we might find joy in realizing that we please Jesus by not getting overly wrapped around the axle about that.

After all, He was willing to be used up for sinful man, for all of us.

So how much closer to Him will we feel if we have had similar experiences?